Visible index system



Dec. 29, 1931. H. L. MATTHES VISIBLE INDEX SYSTEM Filed Jan. 26, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet N 3? fig N W N N h fcwoldlou/jsjlljthzs Dec. 29,1931. H.1.. MATTHES VISIBLE INDEX SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 26, 1928Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED?! STATES HAROLD LOUIS MAT-mans; onrzonnon-l mrcnrean; nssrsnon means were racrnnrnd COMPANY, or MansonMICHIGANQA, coaronarron on M-Icnjr'em VISIBLE" INDEX sYsTEM drawers,adapted to slide into-'andout: eta

cabinet, and more particularly toxthose which are so proportioned andarranged: that: they: are especially adapted: forause-'iniconnection vwith what is commonly called aavisible' index system, in'whichllattenthe. sliding trays or drawers, arranged one above another, are"providedwvithioverlappin-gindexcards which ar 'eeasily accessible for1inspection-by. merely pulling"-the tray or drawer outward; and" thenallowing it to hang downwardstofacili tate inspection ofthe cards or"similar; means held therein;

Generally stated, the obj ectof the inven= tionzis to provide a' noveland 'improwedrconstruction for; permitting the'tray or drawertorpu'llout-and then hangadownward iIbpOSi tion to permit easyinspection ofthe cards; or; other things therein, involving; a followerfore the rear end of vthe. tray or drawer, ,to which the rear end of thetray; or drawer is:- detachably connected, havingmeans foriperj mittingthe easy removal of the followerr from:the-cabinet, (if such :is'desirable or necessary. 7

It is also an object to *provideicertaindetails and features ofimprovement and rcom loinations tending; to lIlCI'QflSBwtllB generalefficiency and the desirability;oflaetrayor' drawer: and followerconstruction f this particularcharacter;

In certain respects,- therefore theconstruo tion herein shown anddescribed lS lIli the na ture of an improvement on that shown and 3described in prior application No2 58,993,filed I September l2, 1925,for a visible index system which applicationresultedin 1 Patent No. r1,765,568. V 7

To the foregoing and other; useful; ends: the invention consists inthematters hereinafter set 'forthand claimed, and shown; intheaccompanying drawings, in which,.

Fig. 1 isawplan view of a'cabinet-tray "or drawer having a followerembodying the principles of the invention,ishowingthe' ca-hi net inhorizontal section, showing one'vt'rayf and its follower in'istoragepositionin the cabinet, and showing the tray and follow-en 51 belowwithdrawn to: A a position to permit inspe'ct-ioni ofi the things in thetray beingtw section on line=1i11of FigiQ; l v

.Figi2 is a vertical section on line' Q/--2 in Figr3 isan enlargedplan-view of one of 5* the traysgshowing the follower therefor, r-vpor-'ti'ons i of the tray beingibroken away;- for 'convenience ofillustration; this-view beingso'n a" larger: scale than said; previous;views:

Fig-n 4 is: a transverseverticalsection on linen-e l'in-Fig. I,

V F detaibsection on line- 5,-+5-' in Fig-.1 6 ds a' similar Viewshowing; the tray in a adifi erentposition;= l

As:thusillustrated;' the cabinet Imay; be of: any; saitableform orconstruction, beingipro vided with horizontal walls or partitions 2"toform'compartmentstherein for the trays and followers. Eaclr'compartmentisproVided with horizontal-lateral guides '3, as'shown'.

,Each tray l is of any suitable formo'r character,beingpreferabl-yprovided at its%front end with apnll knobor handle '5,'-anda-titsrear end with the sheet-metal hooks-6, as 76 shown. Thetray.or-'drawer: thus: formed m be supplied with: overlapcpingwvisible'indencards-asis common in cabinets of this kind, or thetray-ordrawer-maybe adapted to; contain otherthin g sr Obviously, how--ever, the-tray or: drawer mast contain things which are held in place,as the tray-is adapted to be-pulled-out: and swung down into -a verticalposition, as shownin Fig =6= of thedrawings. v V 1 8K The followertowhich the-rear end 1 of th-e' tray is connected com-prises a sheetmetal body 7 adapted to slide ?on' the horizontal p'ar tition 2 behindthe tray, and provided-with loops 8 for .detaehably engaging-the hooksji6 B previousiymentioned; The loops 18' have theirend portions journaledbearings-don" the ends of 'the hinge members -10, which are" hin'geconnected to V the plates 11, and i pro vided with springs-12onthe'pintles of -sai'd' hinges thus provided, the portions- 11 being '2rigid with the metal bod-y portionfi -of the fol lower; Normally thehinges thus provided are in thdpositionshown-in liig: 5 of the'drawings; but when the tray; is withdrawn-- 109 and allowed to hangdown, these hinges then assume the position shown in Fig. 6 of thedrawings. This permits of lost motion, so to speak, between the tray andits follower, because of the capacity for forward movement of the loops8, thus increasing the space or distance between the tray and itsfollower under certain conditions. For this purpose, therefore, thefollower is provided with stop rods 13 for engagement with thestationary stops 14 when the drawer is pulled out as far as possible andthen allowed to hang down. These stop rods are mounted in outer bearingsformed by the side portions of the follower body and in bearings 15provided on the fiat top of the follower. The inner end portions 16 ofthe two rods are bent around parallel with each other, as shown, andarranged to slide toward and away from each other under a guide 17provided on the follower. A coiled spring 18 is provided under the guide17, between the two parallel end portions 16 of the two rods, and thisspring tends to keep the outer end portions of the rod 13 in theposition shown, so that these end portions will engage the stops 14 whenthe tray or drawer is pulled out. However, should it become desirable toremove the follower from the cabinet, the two end portions 16 of therods can be moved toward each other, using these two end portions ashandles to be engaged by the thumb and fingers, and in this way the endportions of the rods will be disengaged from the stops 14 and thefollower can be removed from the cabinet. Of course, the tray hooks 6can be easily unhooked or disengaged from the loops 8, without thenecessity of removing the follower from the cabinet, but the followercan then also be removed if such is desirable or necessary.

When the tray and its follower are pushed back into the cabinet, thehinge springs 12 will then operate to space the follower and the traythe normal distance apart, as they are in Fig. 5. But with the inventionthus shown and described the tray or drawer is easily pulled out, andthe hinges by which the loops 8 are connected to the follower body 7then serve as lost-motion connections to permit movement of the trayafter the follower has stopped, so that the tray or drawer can then hangdown to facilitate the inspection of things carried or held therein.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a visible index system, the combination of a cabinet, a trayslidable therein, a follower for the inner end of the tray, removable ashereinafter stated from the cabinet, the cabinet having means to provideguides for said tray and follower, and to keep the tray and follower inthe same plane, means to limit the outward movement of the follower, alost motion connection between the follower and the tray having meanspermitting movement of the tray away from the follower,

after the follower reaches the limit of its outward movement, meanswhereby the tray may swing down and hang vertically, together withmanually operable means on the follower for rendering inoperative saidmeans to limit the outward movement of the follower to permitdisconnection and removal of the follower from said cabinet.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means to limit the outwardmovement of the follower comprising movable stops on the follower, andstationary stops on the cabinet, said stops all in a horizontal plane,and said manually operable means being adapted to move the movable stopshorizontally toward each other to disengage them from said stationarystops.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means to limit the outwardmovement of the follower comprising movable stops on the follower andstationary stops on the cabinet, and said manuall operable means beingadapted to move the movable stops toward each other to disengage themfrom said stationary stops, together with a spring acting on saidmovable stops to yieldingly keep them in operative position.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means to limit the outwardmovement of the follower comprising movable stops on the follower andstationary stops on the cabinet, and said manually operable means beingadapted to move the movable stops toward each other to disengage themfrom said stationary stops, and said manually operable movable stops andmeans for operating them comprising rods having their outer endsdisposed in position to engage the stationary stops and having theirinner end portions bent parallel into longitudinal position to formhandles constituting the operating means therefor, together with acompression spring between said parallel portions to keep the movablestops normally pressed outward in operative position.

5. In a visible index system, the combination of a cabinet, a trayslidable therein, a follower for the inner end of the tray, the cabinethaving means in a horizontal plane to provide guides for said tray andfollower, and to keep the tray and follower in the same plane, means tolimit the outward movement of the follower, a lost motion connectionbetween the follower and the tray permitting movement of the tray awayfrom the follower, after the follower reaches the limit of its outwardmovement, means whereby the tray may swing down and hang vertically,said lost motion connection comprising spring controlled hinges on thefollower, and means connecting said hinges to the inner end of the tray.

6. A structure as specified in claim 5, said spring hinges having loopsforming the said connecting means therefor to the tray, with hooks inthe tray to detachably engage said loops, whereby the tray can beunhooked from said loops when the tray from the cabinet.

7 A structure as specified in claim 5, said 7 spring hinges eachcomprising a member pivoted on a horizontal axis to which the tray isconnected, operative about a horizontal axis, the spring of each hingeacting to normally keep said movable member thereof in raised positionbut permitting such member to yieldingly swing downward when the tray iswithdrawn and allowed to swing downward.

Specification signed this 23rd day of J anuary, 1928.

HAROLD LOUIS MATTHES.

is withdrawn

